When you’re starting a business, or expanding your current small business, you want to find business partners with whom to work that have lots of experience, lots of security, and the ability to make you and your business better.

When you choose Gargoyle Steel Mini Storage Builders to help you start or expand your self-storage business, you’re getting involved with a company who knows their stuff. They’ve built self-storage sites in Texas and all its surrounding states. And because of all their experience, they have perfected the art of self-storage building and self-storage design. When Gargoyle Steel Structures sets to work, they will maximize site space and usability for the self-storage facility you want. Their service is fast, it’s efficient and it’s guaranteed. And it’s the reason they are quickly becoming the primary choice for contractors, developers and facility owners.

Gargoyle Steel knows how precious every penny invested in your business is, that’s why their goals are quick service, great prices and optimized site design. They don’t pre-fab, they don’t skimp; all of their sites are custom built to fit the needs of their clients. They use 100% American made red oxide steel so that when you open or expand upon your self-storage business, you have a facility you are proud to own.

Today we find out that this boutique for fine women's shoes is also a "Boot"ique for the stylish.

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In West Texas, the sight of cowboy boots isn’t at all uncommon. Lubbock is surrounded by farms and ranches and besides all that, that western cowboy look is a pretty common fashion.

Ann Lilli Fine Shoes knows that there are women in West Texas who love them some boots. But they also know that there are women whose feet have unique needs. Narrow women's shoes and quad women's shoes are what the women at Ann Lilli specialize in providing to their customers. They provide style, fashion, but most of all comfort to their customers.

And here, you won’t have to compromise your style for the comfort. You can get that feminine western look that so many West Texas women love, and you don’t have to punish your feet.

So when you, who have such a hard time finding a pair of boots that fit your feet properly, find yourself in need of a new pair of cowgirl boots, don’t forget Ann Lilli Fine Shoes.

And whether you’re looking for cowgirl boots, flats, or heels, Ann Lilli has what you and your feet need.

With the economy the way it is, entrepreneurship has never been more attractive. Owning your own business has never been more possible than in the last few years, with thousands losing their hard-earned jobs due to the poor economic decisions of others.

The benefits of owning your own business are endless as well:

Work when you choose

Your time investment turns into actual, residual wealth

Employment is not determined by others

Pays off with more time with loved ones

Able to write off nearly everything on your taxes

No more fighting others on the corporate ladder

All around more freedom to do the things you love

All this sounds pretty attractive, especially considering today’s economic situation. As an independent business owner myself, I can say that it not only looks good, but it is good. For more than just the incentives listed above, I have grown to love and advocate owning your own small business as a way to gain lasting income, do what you love, and do it with the people you love the most.

The interesting thing about all this is, self-storage is one of the nation’s top small business industries, making regular people like you and me viable, lasting incomes to support their families. 9 out of 10 self-storage facilities are individually owned by independent business owners, like me. All of this is on top of the fact that Americans own and utilize nearly 90% of all self-storage in the world. In short, it is a booming industry that Americans clearly make great use of.

The economy is down. Property investing is on the rise. America dominates the consumption of self-storage services. In school I was taught 2+2=4. Somehow I think that logic still applies when considering what to invest my money and time into.

I was watching TV on the AE channel last week (aka the kind of reality channel), and I admit I got hooked watching several episodes of Storage Wars. You know, the show where four different people (six if you include the husband/wife duo and the father/son combo) square off buying neglected storage units at auctions and selling the contents within for big payoffs, always competing against the others as if it were the next biggest thing since peaches and cream potato chips (wait…you mean those don’t actually exist?). Admittedly, the show can get pretty entertaining watching the teams battle each other like one of them is actually going to be crowned Supreme Chancellor of the Self-Storage Unit-verse (see what I did there?). I have to give it to the producers; they really know how to keep an American audience tuned in with cutting edge psychology to keep you from changing the channel. For instance, they act like each unit is going to be a goldmine only to pretend it’s nothing but junk once they get a good look inside (they may not be pretending on that part). However, the show is not over. They always get you reenergized by showing the “contestants” reacting to a surprise discovery that might really help them strike it rich, only to go to a commercial before you see what causes all the commotion.

By the end of it all they typically come out making hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars on just one unit purchased anywhere from $100-$4000. The show and others like it leave people like you and me thinking, “I’m in the wrong business, when’s the next auction near me?”

The only problem with these shows is, it’s not real life…at least not for 99.9% of the world. Sure there are some that create a lucrative business by reselling other peoples’ items won in an auction, but the fact of the matter is, almost NO ONE stores thousands of dollars in treasured items in storage units, only to forget about them and default on the payments! Especially out here in West Texas, you won’t find Johnny Cash’s guitar strap in a San Angelo self-storage unit (though I guess Buddy Holly’s MIGHT be slightly more likely in Lubbock) and sell it to a collector for $2300.

In the end the truth is, reality television isn’t. You and I are not likely to win an auction that we can afford, find buried treasure, and strike it rich working twice a month. I suggest sticking to your day jobs, enjoying what you have, and MAYBE stopping by a storage auction just to see what it’s REALLY like. My advice to the people leaving their prized possessions to be fought over by second-hand store owners on TV…get a lock box at a bank.

Some of the things to consider when packing a rented Storage Lubbock space with your personal items includes size of the space, items to store, and temperature control. But you might also want to look out for living organisms that could affect your self-storage experience.

Crawly things are everywhere. Insects, rodents, and numerous other creatures are just as likely to affect your storage items as rain leaks, temperature changes, or falling items. But how do you keep these little deviants from getting to your stuff?

Here are some ideas:

Pack your stuff in containers.

o Do not simply throw stuff in a space. Buy or borrow some cheap plastic containers, separate your stuff by content, use, or size, and store them in smaller storage containers within your self-storage unit to keep living things out.

Elevate your items.

o Use some sort of shelving system to raise your possessions off of the ground where most destructive creatures crawl. This serves two purposes as it allows for greater organization, making better use of a limited space.

o If you don’t own any type of portable shelves, and don’t wish to purchase any, save money by using wooden pallets. These can typically be found at any construction site or on the “Free” section of Craigslist.

Take care of the problem directly

o Use poison or traps to kill (or simply capture for more humane solutions) mice, rats, or any insects that could find their way inside your self-storage unit.

Quick commentary: Storage Lubbock Texas and the managers of those Lubbock Storage Units love cockroaches as much as the next guy, but we have to stop allowing them to breed. I know they are as cute as dachshund-sized rats, but we have to stop giving in to our impulses to be covered in them...It will not be easy to let go of this urge, but we must. Desire has to be controlled.

Electronics are the first thing to go in environments that become too hot or overly cold:

Televisions

Stereos and speakers

Computers or laptops

MP3 players or iPods, iPads or any other tablet

ANYTHING WITH BATTERIES

It is also advised that instruments be kept out of intense temperatures:

Guitars (especially those made with wood)

Any type of drum or drum kits

Harps (harps will explode in severe heat)

Pianos

It is likely some instruments will just be really out of tune after leaving in harsh temperatures, but some will in fact be ruined. So…better safe than sorry right?

There are other items one would not suspect to be at risk:

Clothing with elastic

Some wooden furniture, capable of bowing

Vinyl records

Liquids or anything that can expand with heat

Lastly there are things that should never be stored in high temperature environments like gas or gas powered tools, as well as cooking fuels like propane.

If you are needing to store any of the above items I would highly advise you seek out climate-controlled storage units as a better alternative to regular units, that can reach extreme temperatures throughout different seasons.

Celebrity Endorsements - brought to you by your friends at Midland Storage, Storage in Midland Tx, San Angelo Storage and San Angelo Storage Units. And when I say friends, I mean strangers who you can trust not to stab you in an alleyway late at night in a West Texas single stoplight town. I did not mean to say "friends" as if friendship is a casual Facebook type relationship - or bring to mind some horror-show song by Michael W. Smith.

Anyway, forget I even began this rant. Let's get on to this crater to the brain of a blog by Mr. Rick Carlisle...

We live in a world of in your face advertising. One of the most popular strategies among the marketing world is the use of celebrity status, since it is obvious that celebrities are experts on quality products and services.

For example: Troy Palamalu dusts off his Steelers Jersey with Head and Shoulders, William Shatner fights the evil of high prices with Priceline, Catherine Zeta Jones links anyone up with T-Mobile, and Peyton Manning…well…he endorses everything.

But I am willing to bet everything I own most of you are not aware that we have a local “celebrity” who not only endorses excellent options for self-storage, but REALLY is a prime client for storage facilities with her own personal business.

That’s right, Debra Gilliam is an avid fan of self-storage units. And not only does this fable among the famous have the best house on the block the minute Thanksgiving turkey runs dry, but she is also known as the woman that victoriously decorated and added color to the White House each of the eight Christmases George W. Bush was in office.

That’s right, she decorated the White House…eight times! She has the pictures with George W. and Laura to prove it too. She makes decorations last longer than cell phone contracts, cuts out frizzled Christmas wreaths in climate-controlled units, and battles the all too familiar fiend of in-home clutter like a space-saving ninja!

Rick Carlisle is back once again - This time he comes to us via Lubbock Storage spaceship logs. One does not often think of Storage in Lubbock and 2001 space odysseys. But Hal, in 2012, Storage Lubbock is the new Roswell area alien headspace.

I shall leave you now. I have introduced my friend poorly. But you will have to admit after reading this article, Mr. Carlisle is becoming a formidable force in the blogosphere. Without further ado, here's Ricky!!!

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The other day I was meeting with my 90-year-old Super Secret Ancient Martial Arts instructor, Mr. Yu-ah-gi, listening to his lecture on the art of superior wisdom, when I casually mentioned that I had begun channeling my inner zen through writing about Lubbock storage units. This got him incredibly excited, and he led me to a stack of books where I would discover an artifact FULL of legendary proverbs. And wouldn't you know it...they all made specific reference to SELF STORAGE!!!

So as a gift to you, I have copied some of them here just for your peaceful pleasure:

"A bird in the hand is worth nothing compared to a good storage unit."

"A cat has nine lives, but storage units are endless."

"A clear conscience is a soft pillow. Soft pillows can be found in your storage unit."

He has channeled his inner child and bred him with Emily Dickinson to bring you a beautiful piece of reminisce about Lubbock Storage.

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I am a man of sentiment. Most days this causes great sadness, since each passing day prints the reminder in the mirror that I am growing older and moving further away from every memory. Each wrinkle on my father’s face foreshadows the fate of my own future wrought with wild worries and too few hours.

I worry that the difficulties of life are making me older than my age typically represents.

However, one day I found myself staring into earlier times, almost as if the home footage of my third Christmas was no longer a projection of the past, but the truth of the moment. You see I had made a day trip to my self-storage unit located near my own home, and there I had recovered an artifact long forgotten.

I applied pressure to my brake pedal between the yellow lines, stepped forth from my pickup truck, and embarked a journey yet unknown. All it took was the lifting of a storage unit door and grazing the contents to find myself in the living room of my first house, staring before me at the magic of Santa Claus. Where there had previously been nothing but a yellow-ish fireplace, there now sat before me a Hercules C-130 Airplane made my Tim Mee Toys.

I “flew” that plane around for hours that Christmas morning until my mom and dad finally woke up and moved to the living room. I remember saying, “I wish it could fly for real,” to which my mom promptly replied, “It can if you use your imagination.” Well naturally, being four years old, that meant they had put my imagination (a box with a single button on it that makes the plane fly…at least in the mind of a four year old) in my room to surprise me. After an extended search I reentered the room and bewilderedly asked, “Where’s my imagination?”

That morning, along with dozens of others involving top secret air raids and epic battles between the green American and the tan German forces of plastic soldiers, is a memory I have not allowed to slip away, even now that decades have passed and Christmas mornings have almost become common. Today I am grateful for my self-storage unit. It has given my favorite past times a home when I could not. Now I have a weekly treasure trove for hunting on dull days when I feel like too much else has gone forgotten.

Guest Blogger Rick Carlisle, who seems very much to enjoy advising people about everything from International Politics and the biblical casting of lots to Lubbock Storage, Midland Storage and San Angelo Storage, enters the Loudsmith Media world of SEO Lubbock magic to bring you some pretty decent ideas about taking one's first steps into a rented Storage unit.

Welcome Rick - may you never text me a picture of that brown thing again, but feel free to breathe life into all of our tired minds about your topics of intelligentsia.

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Self-Storage units are worth more than one might think when considering the regular payments. But they are capable of becoming an expense to hold nothing but junk to be forgotten, unless you know what to store when you first open the door to your new unit.

When you begin renting your own self-storage unit, you want to give some consideration to what you will be placing within the space. Some places I would start are things that will NOT be forgotten:

Furniture going into a new home, whether your building your dream home, or still shopping around while you get by in temporary housing that is too small for your favorite pieces

Vehicles with no safer place to store (like a personal garage). As long as it’s insured, a storage unit is a great place to keep valuable vehicles or show pieces to keep out of the elements, as well as away from people’s fingers, keys, and mischievous eyes. Just be sure to check the local facility’s policy on storing automobiles. It also might help to empty the gas tank and make sure there are no leaks to avoid leaving smells or damaging other items.

Things from your past. Toys, memorabilia; things you have no room or use for, but can’t bear to see them go because of the memories and connections they evoke.

The possibilities for storage are nearly endless with the incredible versatility that self-storage units offer. I believe storing items you will not soon forget, rather than piles of junk is a good way to avoid wasting space and money on your self-storage.

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Thanks to Rick C. - master of Storage in Midland Tx, Storage in Lubbock Tx and Storage San Angelo Tx. Without your advice, I would have most definitely and most foolishly thrown away my new furniture and all of the toys I still cherish as if they were sons and daughters. You are welcome back into this blog anytime.

A siren's song to many good ladies who continually wreck their lives onto the rocks of a good pair of stilettos.

But here's an article from a young lady who does not get tempted by that song -

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Call me crazy, alright? But I’m a girl and I don’t really love shoes. I never have. I always had such a hard time spending more than fifteen bucks on a pair of shoes, and I rarely left the clearance rack in the shoe section of any store.

Other girls call me an abomination. But what can I say? I just never got the shoe thing. I had accepted “Women’s love for shoes” as a part of culture, and moved on.

Well, paying cheap money for cheap shoes catches up with you. It sure caught up with me. See, I have weird feet. Well, I say weird, but everyone’s got different kinds of feet. Short, long, skinny, wide. Shoe companies (especially companies you can get a $5 pair of heels from) don’t exactly cater to all the foot needs of the world. For a long time, I didn’t know this, and I didn’t know that shoes could actually be comfortable.

My thin feet that require narrow women's shoes never fit quite right into the shoes I was buying off the clearance racks at Payless. I thought that was just the way things were, but I’ve recently discovered how wrong I was.

There’s a place called Ann Lilli Fine Shoes. I went in there with a friend of mine with whom I was spending the afternoon. I would have never walked in on my own, but after only a few minutes, my eyes were opened to a world of shoes I didn’t know existed.

None of the shoes looked different from the styles I’d seen other place, but the cute, fashionable shoes all around me were made for feet like mine, for skinny fee (hard to fit sizes). After trying on only a couple pairs, I knew my outlook on shoe buying was going to be different from then on.

So I paid more for a single pair of heels than I’d ever paid for a pair of shoes in my life. (“Oh, that’s nothing!” my friend said. “The prices here are great!”) I knew I had a whole lot of learning to do when it came to shoes.

But I’ve never experienced more comfort from shoes than the specialty shoes I’ve bought from Ann Lilli. I swore to myself I’d stop shying away from those high-end shoe boutiques when the solution to my foot discomfort could be found in wearing the right pair of slender shoes.

Jack Handey who brought us deep thoughts on Saturday Night Live deserves a Tribute Band - Not a Musical tribute per say, but a group of well-meaning people including me, who cannot be as deep as he is/was, but who will try their best to pay homage to his brilliance.

Thus, this blog series does not pretend to approach the brilliance of the only true philosopher of our time, but we will try to play the same chords and do our best to honor his remembrance.

Loudsmith is now Jock Hundey, lead singer of the Deep Thunk Tribute Band.

Deep Thunk #1: When someone asks you to come see their Self Storage shed, first ask them if their storage space is climate-controlled, because most of the instances when I've been asked to see someone else's Self Storage shed it was so that other person could duct tape my mouth, lock me inside that storage shed with their collection of recently deceased skeletons and tell me of their future plans to kill me. I hate standing in a hot Self Storage space. The least we can expect is a climate-controlled death.

The space is there. You can get it out of your garage and your attic and into this modern self storage unit. The space is there. But there are some things you don't want to fill it with.

Simply put, if it can ignite, conflagrate, explode, simmer, burn or otherwise blow up, don't put it in a storage unit. There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is you don't want to see video footage on the evening news with a TV anchor voice over saying, "The AAA Self Storage went up in flames today. Over 100 units burned to the ground in a blaze that fire inspectors say began in Unit #23 rented to (insert your name here).

If you have gasoline, oil, kerosene, ammunition, fireworks that didn't make the celebration last 4th of July, C-4 that for some reason you have in your possession, or dynamite from that year you worked as a stump remover in Montana, don't store them in your rental unit. Store them in some old out building in your backyard. When they blow up, you'll still make the news. But you won't get sued by the storage company and everyone else whose possessions went up in smoke.

Something else you shouldn't keep in your storage unit? Your identity. No, I'm not talking about the Superman tights and cape you keep in there for Halloween. I'm talking about your identity. Passports, bank statements, utility bills, birth certificates, documents that have your Social Security number on them, investment portfolio communications, etc. All it would take is a bolt cutters and some time for an identity thief to go through your boxes and walk out a whole new person, if you know what I mean.

Yes, modern storage units are for the most part secure, gated and security video monitored. But even maximum security prisons have escapes once in a while. Ask yourself, "If this unit were compromised, what documents would I not want to fall into the wrong hands." Then put those papers somewhere else. The last thing you need is an evil twin walking around doing dastardly deeds with your identity.

A couple months ago I was back at my parents home, helping my Mom clean out the basement. A good portion of it was junk that ended up in the bonfire (you can do that when you live on a farm). But some things were worth hanging on to.

In particular I found a Virginia Dragoon .44 magnum revolver, brand new in the box. My Dad was keeping it for me. He used to collect antique firearms, mostly Winchester rifles. This pistol will stay with me now as a treasured keepsake. My Dad suffered a stroke and is no longer able to speak. He's in a skilled care facility and only God knows if he will recover.

I thought about it when I was down in the basement. How does one decide what to keep and what to throw away? There's probably no single right answer. One man's junk is another man's treasure. At least that's what they say. And I think it was Erma Bombeck who said, "when you see how easily things accumulate on their own, it's a wonder why we save anything on purpose." If we kept everything that had a meaning in the moment our houses would overflow. On the other side, if we strictly follow the "if you haven't used it in a year, throw it out" rule, we will live an efficient spartan existence void of items from our past.

A few years ago my Dad started sending me boxes via UPS. They were filled with memorabilia from the past. Old pens, matchbooks, some antiques, old toys, and items that represented our family history. An expense log my Grandfather kept in 1936. A feed store calendar from the year I was born. Many of the items have great sentimental value. And honestly, some of the items my Dad couldn't bring himself to throw away so he sent them to me.

What to keep. What to throw away. Down in the basement I was thinking about my own kids. When the day comes that they are digging through my basement will they be thankful I saved some things to pass along to them? Or will they lament the task because to them it's junk worthy of the burn pile?

The best things we keep can't be put into a storage unit. These are the memories and stories gathered over the years that we pass on to our kids. Yet there's something tangible about holding a keepsake in your hand that adds to the memory. It's worth it, I think, to make room in your attic or your garage or your storage unit for a couple boxes of tangible legacy. Boxes that your kids can open someday and hold in their hands a link to their past.

Because as someone else has said, it's hard to know where you're going if you don't know where you've been.

--Special thanks to our guest blogger from Storage Lubbock, Todd Thompson. Todd is a stud and a nice guy...

Is it because I have a skinny foot fetish? Do I dream every night about spooning with a petite robot wearing quad women's shoes?

Maybe.

Robots are cool. Spooning is cool. Dainty feet are cool.

What would Freud say? Well, probably nothing since he is dead. But if he were able, I am sure he would admit to loving thin feet and might put me into an electro-shock situation.

But, despite my weirdness, there is some compassion in this heart. I seriously think I have proper empathy and passion for the skinny footed woman. I am a male with skinny feet and I have so many options for shoes. I don't ever have a hard time finding nice foot coverings. I am not forced to jam my walkers into whatever the shoe store has in the back. I also don't have to wear heels.

But most women I know who have those lovely skinny feet are forced to take what they can get from shoe stores. Even most boutique shoe stores have stopped carrying cute heels, boot or even flats to hold those feet because it seems there is a conspiracy against the 35% of women who don't tromp around on elephantine soles and ankles.

Could it be CIA?

More likely Al-Qaeda and the Taliban as they terrorize our women from the bottom of their bodies upwards.

Anyway, I proudly represent Ann Lilli Fine Shoes in Lubbock because they carry all sizes - And their shoes are very nice. The owner does not try to make a ton of money by going with the typical ranges of size. She serves everyone, but caters to those who have been blessed with narrow feet.

It stands for Scrotum Eating Otters and has become a major problem for those males going through adolescence in the Chernobyl neighborhood.

So, if you have male teenagers and are planning to accept that position as top barista at the Soviet version of Starbucks, you might buy your kids a decent shield and light saber to fend off those awful creatures.

Oh yeah, and then there is that other SEO out there - Search Engine Optimization.

I want to clarify here once and for all that I am an SEO expert of the latter sort - I help people's websites rank higher on Google and Bing. I do not store radiated otters and set them free on 7th grade P.E. shower rooms. I know a guy who makes a huge salary doing that and I was tempted to get into it as a moonlighting type of thing, but then I read the Bible and decided you do unto others as you would want done unto you. I think my scrotum is fairly valuable. I must believe they think the same.

Anyway, SEO of the kind I engage in is a grind if you don't let yourself be creative.

I represent Midland Storage Texas, Storage Lubbock and San Angelo Storage and thus am required to write hundreds of blogs and articles about them. Now, one might say "That's gotta be boring." But it is not. I have opened the creative, sarcastic, insane parts of my brain and I now filter everything through the lens of Self Storage.

I see an airplane, I think of its storage - A Hangar.

I see a dog, I think of its storage - A Kennel.

I see a waffle, I think of its storage - My Stomach.

So, if you want the craziest and most effective SEO (non otter) in the nation, hire my team to make you trounce every other company within your industry.

Your refrigerator is covered with magnets representing every trip and vacation you've ever taken. Every time you travel to a new town, city or airport, you buy a magnet to put on your fridge.

Are you a hoarder? Or a collector?

You can't park your car in the garage because your garage is full of paper and plastic shopping bags, cardboard egg cartons, empty plastic milk jugs, floor to ceiling stacks of newspapers and magazines.

Are you a hoarder? Or a collector?

The popularity of TV shows like "Hoarders: Buried Alive" have given many viewers pause to ask, "Am I a hoarder?" It's a fair question to ask because many hoarders think of themselves as collectors.There's a difference between collecting and hoarding. Here's some things to consider.

If your refrigerator magnets or baseball cards or decorative plates are neatly displayed, meticulously cared for and are a focal point in your home, you're a collector. If you're on the Internet or in antique shops looking for that missing piece you're a collector. If you enjoy showing and talking about your items with guests who come to your home, you're a collector.

If you save items that are normally discarded or are considered trash by most people, you may have a problem with hoarding. If entire rooms of your home are unusable because they are overstuffed with items you've saved, you may be a hoarder. If you buy or save things because you "might use them someday" and someday never comes, you may be a hoarder.

If you avoid inviting people over because you're embarrassed or ashamed at what they will see when they walk through the door, you may have a problem with hoarding. And if the items you are saving make it impossible for you to use a room for its intended purpose (e.g. you can't use the stove in the kitchen because it's covered with junk) then you likely have a problem with hoarding.

If you or a family member suspect you may have a problem with hoarding, seek professional help. Hoarding negatively impacts family relationships and in extreme cases creates dangers within the home. One can literally be trapped by the items you're saving.

For the items worth keeping that you may not have room for, find a professional local storage unit. There you can secure your possessions safely and if needed, in a climate controlled environment.

How important are the shoes in your life? Think back to the biggest events of your life: banquets, proms, graduations, galas, weddings…I bet in your preparation, shoes were a big part of your wardrobe choice. Maybe you even found the dress to match the shoes. And they looked great didn’t they? They were part of what made you look stunning.

Then think back to the ends of those nights. I’ll also bet your feet didn’t feel very stunning. In fact, I’ll bet you were looking forward to nothing more than taking those shoes off and sitting down. Sure, the pictures from those nights looked great, but what price did your feet have to pay for that look? If you think it was just a couple hours of discomfort, you might be very wrong.

The average human foot is perfectly designed to carry our weight just how it should be. Many a professional runner will tell you that no fancy running shoe will be better for your foot than running barefoot. That’s because our feet were designed to be walked on.

But modern day fashion (and fashions dating back hundreds and thousands of years) claims that wearing shoes is the norm; it’s what society expects. And it can be dangerous to walk around barefoot, too, with all of the rocks, glass, and other objects covering the ground.

The problem is, we tend to let fashion dictate the shoes we wear, and ignore all considerations toward health and comfort. High heels, for example, put a lot of undue strain on the foot, which is a major factor in the pain we feel after wearing them for a long time. On occasion, wearing these shoes is totally fine. But here’s the deal: Everyone’s foot is a different size and shape. I don’t just mean in length, because every shoes company everywhere makes shoes of different lengths, but women’s feet are not all the same width, either. Toes aren’t the same length or the same shape. A lot of regular shoes assume that they are.

Your feet need to be taken care of; they hold you upright for your whole life. If you don’t listen to them when their pain is telling you they need to be in a different type of shoe, you can potentially damage them really badly. Ann Lilli Fine Shoes knows how important the health of your feet is. They know that women have different foot needs and they want to help you find exactly the shoes that fit your feet. Wearing the right size shoes, whether narrow shoes or quad-size shoes, these women know what you need.

Shoes that conform to you are the kind that will make your feet happy, and in turn, make those important your evenings memorable…and pain free.

Visit them at annlilli.com or at their boutique Ann Lilli Fine Shoes at the Village Shopping Center in Lubbock, Texas.

This article is for all the Lubbock ladies out there searching for fine women's shoes. I connect you to the brain of a fine female guest blogger who has some good answers for you.

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Oh, so you’re looking for the perfect shoes? Well, what woman isn’t? And who ever finishes that search?

Just like the perfect purse, every once in a while, you might find a fit that’s so close to perfect, you’re on cloud nine for days. But eventually you’ll find yourself standing among the handbag displays at Dillards, wondering if you can squeeze that Coach clutch onto this month’s credit card…

But shoes don’t have to be as elusive as the perfect purse. Though many women might not know it, attaining the perfect selection of shoes isn’t an absurd dream. Women who are looking for stylish shoes that are made in hard to fit sizes are in luck. Boutiques like Ann Lilli Fine Shoes in Lubbock, Texas specialize in selling shoes targeted to unique feet. Narrow shoes, quad shoes, slender shoes…whatever specialty need your feet have, Ann Lilli has a wide selection of trendy, classy shoes that aim to keep your feet comfortable and healthy.

Did you know that women wearing the wrong size shoes, or shoes not fitting to their feet, is the leading cause for foot deformities and, in turn, foot surgery? 90% of all foot surgeries performed to correct common foot disorders (such as bunions, hammertoes and neuromas—all of which bad shoe choices can cause) are done on women. Some of these problems can lead to bigger foot problems as women age. Prevention can start early, and it starts by choosing the right size shoe, and the shoes best suited to your feet.

A woman who chooses a fashionable dress shoe will, on average, squeeze into a shoe that is two and a half sizes too small! Many mistake snugness for the right fit, when snugness will alter the natural shape of the foot and cause damage if such shoes are worn regularly. A lot of those dressy shoes are not shaped at all like a human foot…and that can become a problem.

Women who have hard-to-fit feet are even more susceptible to this problem, since the average shoe store doesn’t carry any shoes that properly fit their feet. Ann Lilli Fine Shoes understands the struggle for good shoes these women face, and they’re here to help. They want to help you find the perfect fit for your feet. And maybe after you try on those narrower shoes, those quad-size shoes, or whatever special type of shoes you need, you’ll find that the perfect shoe isn’t that far out of your reach.

As a proud representative of Midland Texas Storage, Self Storage Midland and Storage Builders Texas, I am enthralled with the upcoming new season of Storage Wars. I have Lubbock Storage in my blood since childhood and thus cannot wait to experience the thrill of more abandoned metal doors being opened so other nimrods like me can stare in awe at the beauty of junk that just might be potential gold.

I am not sure who came up with the idea for this show because on paper it sounds terrible. Can you imagine the pitch to TV executives? I imagine a drunk and soon to be fired lower level creative producer stumbling into the decision room like Syd Barrett and mumbling out the following slur: "How bout we spend a millions of moneys on watching weird people open up old Self Storage sheds and bid on them?"

Then that man is punched in the face by a security guard, tossed out on the street and never heard from again.

But, up in that room of powerful TV warriors he stumbled into, two very wealthy and stupid people have caught the vision of America's love for strange sub-cultures. And they actually decide to spend "millions of moneys" on filming a TV show with some idiosyncratic nut heads who for whatever capitalistic or purely curious reasons go around the country standing in front of abandoned storage units and putting their money where their bidding mouths are in hopes of discovering something worth their risk.

Now, I am not rocking on the show at all. I find it to be very entertaining - The editing room has done a fantastic job of creating distinct personas for the main characters and have even drawn an large audience by creating a sense of thrill - "Did that person just waste their money, or is their really some golden monkey bricks inside that locked trunk?"

But I have to again wonder how the producers who green-lit this series got any advertisers to sign on. I do not think I would want anything I sold to the public to be seen to have any possible connection with crap in a dirty shed - Unless I was advertising a Quick Cash Now company or Time Shares. So, you have to give those people credit for convincing anyone to see the light they saw.

Brilliant people can see potential brilliance even in the least interesting things. Genius Capitalists take that potential brilliance, craft it into marketable "circus" for the masses and sell "doo-doo" in beautiful packaging to early adopters they once met in their fraternities and sororities so the "circus" can be shown on TV's around the country.

Then, we as entertainment junkies shove our eyes all over the creative mess placed before us and like those people on Storage Wars, we decide whether or not to bid our time on the potential gold in front of us.

I have chosen to place my bid on Storage Wars. It may seem like an abandoned idea, but I have seen enough episodes to know that it only takes a couple of trunks to make it worth the spend!